


Fracta Clepsydra

by TheXGrayXLady



Category: Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Steampunk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-19
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2018-01-19 23:37:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1488334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheXGrayXLady/pseuds/TheXGrayXLady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After facing down homicidal maniac sorcerers, visiting family should be a walk in the park. However, years of experience with Wonderland's parks should have taught Alice that walks in the park are never that easy and come with unexpected dangers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cyrus Meets His In-Laws

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so when I first figured out that the England that Alice is from is not Real World England, but rather fictional England, the idea for Steampunk Shenanigans got into my head and wouldn't leave. And then, unlike most ideas, I started to plan it out as an actual work of writing, and before I knew it, and also before the finale, I had a not insignificant amount of stuff planned out. 
> 
> So basically, because the first nine or so chapters were planned out prior to the finale, as well a good chunk of writing for the first chapter, this is not entirely canon. It's mostly canon compliant, just not with the last ten or so minutes of the finale.

“We could always elope,” Alice said, setting the Looking Glass back on the dresser and sitting on the bench. The longer she stared at the mirror, the lovelier the thought became. Just the two of them, in a nice forest glade, with only family and maybe one or two of their closest friends as witnesses. His family, of course, not hers. She liked his family, her own was another story.

She wished she could say she was surprised that in a few weeks, she’d become closer to Cyrus’ brothers than she was to her father. And while she supposed that Jafar dangling her father over a cliff had done something to begin to mend their relationship, it was not enough to make up for a lifetime of feeling unwanted and being told she was delusional. And while she would like for him and Millie to attend their wedding, Sarah was another matter entirely.

Her father she had limited issues with, she was rather fond of her sister, but her step-mother was another matter entirely. While Sarah made her father happy, she had the distinct opposite effect on Alice. She felt some sort of forgiveness for Bethlam towards her father out of familial obligation. She had no such obligation towards Sarah. Yet she was a part of her father’s life now and if she invited him and Mille to the wedding, Sarah would have to be included in the invitation. As much as she disliked the thought, she could tough it out. She’d faced down homicidal maniac sorcerers, an unpleasant stepmother should be a walk in the park.

Fortunately, this would be relatively quick and painless. They would go visit her family, properly announce their engagement, invite them to the wedding, if needed, stay the rest of the afternoon, and leave the next morning.

“Should you wish it,” Cyrus said, picking up the glass from where she set it down, “We could make it happen. Although it would likely disappoint Ana.” If it was possible, the Queen was more excited about their wedding than they were. She’d volunteered the Hedge Maze and castle grounds for the wedding venue. They probably weren’t going to take the offer, but she was very insistent and more than happy to loan them the Looking Glass for the few days they’d need it.

“It would stop Will from making any sort of embarrassing toasts though.” Making Will her Man of Honor was only natural, but he had a litany of stories for wedding toasts that she would rather not have told. Thankfully, as of late, he’d been favoring the Mallow Marsh escapade.

“You do have a remarkable talent for preventing poorly planned speeches,” he said, smiling and sitting down beside her.

“I’m never going to hear the end of that am I?” she giggled, clasping his hand in hers.

“Like I said, it wasn’t a very good speech. You did the right thing by stopping me. Although it’s hard to imagine you pulling me off the ground and kissing me as a bad thing, regardless of circumstances,” he said, kissing her hand. She smiled, but she supposed it didn’t reach her eyes because he continued on to say, “Alice, if the thought of inviting your family is upsetting you, we don’t have to do it.”

“No, I want to do this,” she insisted, holding the other side of the looking glass. “I want my father to be there, and Millie, and you know what?”

“What?”

“I think I would like to see the look on Sarah’s face when she sees that you’re real,” she said. It was a petty reason for going back to her father’s house, but it would get her through the next few days better than any thought of potential reconciliation with a woman she would, at best, be able to tolerate.

He seemed to think her reason as good as any because he then said, “That would be a sight wouldn’t it?”  

“It won’t be the Ring of Fire in autumn, but it shall be splendid,” she said, her voice a bit cheerier than it probably should have been. “And what’s more important Cyrus, I want them all to meet you.” He smiled at her, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Are you alright?”

“What? Alice, I’m fine, I want nothing more than to meet your family. It’s just, they seem like such…” he paused and rubbed the back of his neck, searching for the right words, “I’m worried they won’t like me.”

“Why wouldn’t they like you? You are an effortlessly charming gentleman,” she said, leaning towards him until their foreheads touched. “If all else fails, just remember, we’re not visiting for their approval.” She left off that anybody would be stupid not to like him. “And besides, your brothers told me you used to be able to sell sand to a shepherd.”

“They give me far too much credit,” he murmured, still sounding a bit unsure of himself. “It was _grass_ and I sold it to an _apothecary_.” The familiar playful tone was all she needed to know that this would turn out just fine.

“Oh, then you’re right, they won’t like you,” she said, giving him a reassuring smile. “They’ll love you.” There was enough time for one stolen kiss before the cool metal frame in their hands reminded them of what they were planning.

“Ready?” he asked, letting go of his side of the Looking Glass.

“As I can ever be,” she said, tossing the mirror onto the ground. The Looking Glass sat there for a moment, then the surface bubbled like water just beginning to boil. The mirror threatened to overflow the frame, then slowly trickled over the edge and spread across the rug in quicksilver rivers until a shimmering portal lay on the floor. “Next stop England.”

Their fingers intertwined as they got up from the bench and stepped into the portal. She’d never used the Looking Glass before, it felt different than any portal the Rabbit dug or any other portals she’d happened upon for that matter. Every different portal had a different feel to it. The Rabbit’s tended to be very sudden, rather jumpy, transitions between realms and if one didn’t know what they were doing, it was impossible to have a good landing. The Looking Glass was like slipping under the water in a warm bath. The next thing they knew, they were standing on a grassy knoll near her father’s house.

The Looking Glass didn’t leave behind quite the same mess as one of the Rabbit’s tunnels, but there was still debris. All portals left some sort of trace, whether it was a giant crater like the Rabbit’s or a swath of silver-white grass. If one was there soon enough after a portal through space time opened, and one knew what to look for, one could find small, blue-black cubic crystals around the area. Alice had become rather adept at finding them through years of searching for ways back to Wonderland.

“Early spring by the look of things.” Alice pointed to the budding leaves on a sapling. That was good. She’d left Bethlam in mid-autumn, unless years had gone by again, they wouldn’t have missed much. “I always forget how dreary the weather is this time of year,” she said, glancing up at the clouds threatening rain.

“I think it’s rather charming,” he said, staring off at the fog bank hanging about the distant city. “From up here, your London looks almost like a lost city.”

“The only thing to find there is plague and your occasional hopeful orphan,” she said as they started down the hill.

“Surely it can’t be all bad,” he said. He tugged his coat a little closer around himself to ward off the early morning chill.

“It’s not completely terrible when there are flowers, but it is awfully boring,” she said.

“I can’t imagine any world with you being boring,” he said.

“I think even you would be surprised,” she said.

Despite the threatening rain, it was a pleasant enough day. It was cool, but not unpleasantly so, and a light breeze rustled the new leaves. Even though there were still patches of snow in the shade, she could see crocus’ poking through the dirt. If they didn’t have places they needed to be, she would have suggested that they take a walk through the forest.

She still possessed an acute mental map of the area. The hollow tree where she’d spent lazy summer afternoons curled up with any book she could smuggle out of the house and past her governess was only a few minutes away and the grove of old oaks with the sturdy climbing branches a little ways past that.

That is, if they were still there at all. The last time she was here, she’d been too distraught to think of things like that.  It was oddly discomforting to think of, the places she once knew vanishing without her knowing. That was why Cyrus was less than enthusiastic about the idea of returning to Agrabah after hundreds of years. In that time, he and his brothers still didn’t know how long exactly, the whole world could have changed.

The closer they got to her father’s house, she felt a growing unease. Her pace slowed as she remembered countless scenes of her father telling her she was delusional or to stop pestering him with this nonsense. Rather than a gravel road, she felt as though she were walking across the hardwood floors towards her father’s study. She felt like a child again, telling herself that this time, everything would be alright, that this time she had made everything better, when even she didn’t believe it. Her father saw Wonderland, but she wished him away and wishes always come with a cost. Whether or not this visit would go well was contingent on whether or not he even remembered Wonderland.

With every step, she fought the temptation to turn and bolt the other way or toss the Looking Glass onto the ground to escape. She told herself that everything would be fine, that her family would welcome her back. She tried not to think about how they were a little more than a kilometer form the house, how fast they were walking, or the fact that because distance was a function of velocity and time, not taking into account acceleration, they would arrive in a little less than ten minutes, which would then translate into approximately five hundred and forty seconds…

“Alice, are you alright?” Cyrus said, almost distracting her from the seconds ticking by in her head.

“What?” _Forty-two, forty-three, forty-four,_ “I’m fine.” _Forty-nine, fifty, fifty-one…_

“You’re counting.” The numbers nearly stopped as he took her hand. “Are you sure you’re alright with being back here?” _Sixty-seven, sixty-eight, sixty-nine, seventy, seventy-one…_

“I’ll be fine,” she said, trying to focus on Cyrus rather than recalculating the time in order to account for this delay. “I’m just a little nervous, that’s all.”

He smiled at her and said, “Have I ever told you you’d make a very poor genie?” When he first noticed her habit of turning worries into math and seconds, he mentioned how he’d tried to count out the days he’d spent in the bottle and how it hadn’t worked, but he suspected that she would be more determined in figuring out the passage of time.

“Once or twice,” she said as they continued on.

It wasn’t long until they reached the house, her calculations were as usual spot on, and while she did feel a good deal calmer than she had earlier, her hand still hovered over the door knocker.

“ _I’ve slain a dragon,_ ” she thought, her fingers slowly curling around the cool metal loop. “ _I’ve defeated a sorcerer who could break the rules of magic._ ” The brass knocker was heavier as the world. “ _Visiting family should be easier than that._ ”

The three raps on the door were louder than revolver shots and in the dead silence that followed, she could hear nothing but her heart pounding. Then the door slowly opened.

“Hello Sarah,” she said, upon seeing the woman on the other side of the door. There was no way to make this less awkward than it already was, showing up after an escape from Bethlam and months where nobody had the faintest idea where she was. “Cyrus, this is Sarah, Sarah, this is Cyrus.” She resisted the urge to add on, “my imaginary fiancé. I’d tell you to shake hands, but he’s imaginary.” Barely.

The expression on Sarah’s face as Cyrus said, “It is an honor to meet you. Alice has told me so much about you and your family,” was a good deal less satisfying than Alice had hoped, but the befuddled look on her face when she saw that the young man beside her was, in fact, very real was almost enough.

It took Sarah a few moments to regain her full speech faculties before she said, “The pleasure is mine. I’ve heard likewise about you.” Alice supposed that she had already assumed Cyrus was just as mad as she was from the slightly concerned look she gave him. She couldn’t really blame her for that. The supposedly dead genie fiancé from fairyland was fairly unbelievable now that she thought about it.

“Is father currently home?” It would make things marginally less uncomfortable if he weren’t away on business or just out for any number of reasons.

“We were just about to have tea,” she said, drawing her shoulders back and crossing her arms. “If you think you can manage, you are welcome to join us.” She left unsaid, “if you can manage not to talk of nonsense, if you can manage not to cause a scene,” and a whole myriad of other conditions for their joining the rest of them.

Alice almost wished Anastasia were here now, she was far better at making polite phrases sound utterly insulting than Sarah. As Will once put it she could, “tell you to have a lovely day, and all you’d hear is, go fuck yourself,” whereas Alice was far too upfront about disliking somebody for polite conversation.

“Tea sounds lovely thank you.” Thankfully, years of experience working as a confidence artist had left Cyrus just almost as adept at hiding things as the Queen. She had a feeling she would be grateful for that in the coming days.

Sarah nodded her more or less approval and turned to lead them to the parlor. They followed close behind. Alice couldn’t help but notice how Cyrus stayed in between her and Sarah. Alice had done the same thing with Will before he and Anastasia had mended their differences.

“Edwin dear, we have guests,” Sarah said, tapping the parlor door frame to alert him as to their arrival. Alice reached out for Cyrus’ hand as she caught sight of her father sitting at the tea table talking to Millie with his back to the door.

“Show them in,” her father said. “We still have the extra chairs out from bridge with Lord and Lady Glenarvan…” His voice trailed off as he turned around and caught sight of Alice and Cyrus standing behind Sarah in the frame. “Alice,” he said, as if not really believing she was back.

Millie had no such reservations about greeting her sister as she practically leapt from her chair and rushed to hug her. “Alice you’re back!” she said, “I’ve got so much to tell you. I’m learning about the oceans in my lessons now, I can name all of them…”

“That dream I had…” her father said, his attention now turning to Cyrus. “It wasn’t a dream was it? That vile man with the rabbit bag, Wonderland, it was all real. It’s been real all along…how did you get back?” He stood up from his chair and gestured to the extra chairs. “Come, sit down, tell us,” his voice wavered just a bit, unsure of what to say, “tell us everything. You must be Cyrus, it’s so nice to finally meet you.” He took off his glasses and rubbed at the lenses with his handkerchief.

“The pleasure’s mine,” Cyrus said, walking up to her father and shaking his hand.

She couldn’t help but smile as she detangled herself from Millie’s embrace. She’d spent so much time worrying, and it appeared to be for nothing. She did feel a little strange though, to be welcomed back home, no terse, “how long are you staying this time?” or any sort of pitying looks.

“I’m so sorry we showed up unannounced,” she said, taking a seat across from her father. “The Rabbit objects to being anybody’s personal messenger.” She almost corrected herself about the Rabbit out of habit, but she realized that she didn’t have to. It was almost unsettling, not to have to worry about how her father would perceive her stories.

“The rabbit with the pocket watch?” Millie asked.

“Yes,” she said, “that very same Rabbit.” Sarah’s lips drew into a thin line and Alice thought it best to change the topic before anything unpleasant happened. “Last time I was here, I told you that Cyrus proposed to me. Well, we thought it best to tell everybody in person that despite everything that’s happened, we still intend get married and if you want, you’re all invited.” Probably not the best way to bring up the topic, but nothing brought conversation away from the topic of rabbits in raggedy three piece suits better than a wedding.

 

**_X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X_ **

****

“So,” said Edwin after a lengthy pause, “You say you’re looking to have a spring wedding?” Cyrus couldn’t help but notice the slightly concerned look on his face. Although this afternoon had been considerably less stressful than Alice had led him to believe it would be, he wasn’t the sort to take chances and his future Father In-Law’s face was enough to worry him. The looks Sarah gave him, as if in disbelief that he even existed, were enough odd expressions for a lifetime.

“Late spring or early summer,” Alice corrected. They were leaning towards summer. Most of the places they were looking at were either far prettier or far less dangerous in summer.

“You must have an awful lot planned out then,” Sarah said, setting her teacup back on its saucer.

“Not as much as we’d like,” he admitted. Alice tensed, imperceptible to anybody who was not paying attention to her, and he knew it was likely the wrong thing to say. “But we’ve still got a lot of time ahead of us to figure things out.”

“Not enough time to plan a wedding by the end of spring,” she said.

Cyrus hadn’t felt properly warm since becoming human and so was not exactly the best judge of temperature, but if he was, he would say that the room became even colder than it already was. Sarah had been for the most part, polite, but distant and cold and while he could tell that she clearly loved Millie and Edwin very much, she regarded Alice with a not insignificant amount of suspicion and seemed to have a very no-nonsense view of the world.

He idly nudged a teaspoon and glanced at the clock while thinking of an appropriate response. This was just like helping Anastasia reestablish politics in Wonderland, just a matter of selecting the right words so as not to antagonize anybody. The only question was which words to pick. An appeal to reason would likely work best in Sarah’s case, explain to her that it would be a fairly low-key affair, nothing too fancy, and that the trickiest part of the whole process would be figuring out seating so that any number of invited guests who were not fond of each other did not wind up near each other. Actually, on second thought, it would likely be best to leave off that last bit.

“It’s autumn in Wonderland,” Alice said. Any sort of frustration that he may have felt at Alice saying something she probably shouldn’t have was negated by concern at the nervous tremor in her voice and how she rushed through the sentence.

“You mean you’re not staying?” Edwin said at the end of another awkward silence. His voice was just as halting as Alice’s wasn’t. The cycle of badly chosen words and strained pauses was to set the tone for the rest of tea.

Alice pointed out that they had obligations in Wonderland, a kingdom to help rebuild, and that here she was a mental institution escapee. Edwin returned by mentioning how time seemed to pass differently between the two worlds and how she never seemed to think of that before going off. Sarah excused herself and Millie once the discussion started and Cyrus knew it would be best for him to stay out of this. He’d been at the center of family disputes countless times and knew that there were some situations that were best to keep out of unless necessary.

He’d been at fault for almost all of the worst fights as his activities were an unending source of worry for his mother and Taj, but if there was one thing he’d learned, it was that the situation never benefited from an outside opinion. It didn’t matter whether it was one of his friends, one of his mother’s clients, or anybody else, it would only make things worse. Although the terse, but ultimately civil discourse was ultimately more unnerving than any sort of shouting match he could remember.

As much as it was not his place to intrude, he couldn’t help but want to say something. He’d never heard Alice sound so nervous or defensive before. He’d once had phenomenal cosmic power, yet now he couldn’t think of anything he could do to help. To make matters more concerning, this was not how she normally acted when angry or worried. She was making a marked effort not to sound like she was letting her emotions get the better of her whereas he was used to seeing her wear her heart on her sleeve.

For all of his experience working with people, both in his life before becoming a genie and working with Anastasia now, there was nothing he could think to say to diffuse things. Even if he could, he wasn’t sure anything he could say would work as anything better than a temporary patch on the problem.

Before the Well, Alice told him little of her home life, but from what she’d told him since then, he knew there was a not insignificant amount of unpleasantness between her and her father and despite there being some reconciliation, the hurt on both ends had not healed completely. Between that and how she had been acting earlier, he felt as though he should have expected that a family reunion would be less than stellar, but things had been more or less fine until now.

He could almost hear her counting the seconds in the latest pause to sooth frayed nerves. She made do with discretely tapping a finger on the edge of the table.  He could hardly understand how she did it as the seconds seemed to stretch beyond their bounds.

In an attempt to look anywhere but at either Edwin or Alice he glanced at the ornate grandfather clock between two book cases. Cloud filtered sunlight streamed from the window by the tea table, creating a glare that obscured the exact hour, somewhere between four and five. Yet the second hand still ticked on, the engraved brass spike taking far longer to pass the seven than it should have. It was a fine thing really, a bit dustier than it should have been, but with intricate scrolling around the face and carved oak trees on the sides, he could imagine dusting was a bit of a challenge.

Then over the sound of wind against the window, he heard something surprising enough so that for just a moment, the second hand appeared to jump backwards.

“I’m sorry,” Edwin said, turning his teacup so that the handle faced the window. “For doubting you in the past and becoming cross with you now.” It was a temporary patch. everybody at the table knew it. There is tension and bad blood, but even as an outside observer, Cyrus could tell that neither of them wanted to fight any more.  

There was another, less strained pause. The beginnings of a smile began to spread across Alice’s face. “I’m sorry too. It was unfair of me to be angry with you for moving on with your life.”

Another pause followed. The second hand hovered at the ten for far longer than it should have, so long that it almost threatened to move backwards. The hand made good on its threat, rocking back just a fraction of a radian, before moving forwards again.

He leaned forwards to get a better look, although he knew better than to look at the clock. He should be paying attention to what was going on with Alice and her father. This was so important to her, but he wasn’t imagining it. The clock hand moved backwards. It was probably just mechanical problems, but it was a curious thing. In all his years, he’d never seen a clock run backwards, even if it was only for a moment.

“Cyrus?” Alice said, breaking his concentration. “Are you alright?” When he looked at her, she’d already gotten up out of her chair. “Father was just about to show us to the guest rooms.” He supposed he had heard Alice asking if they were still welcome to stay the night, but was too wrapped up in the strange clock to notice.

“Perfectly alright,” he said, swinging to his feet with as much enthusiasm as he could manage. He followed them across the room, pausing for a moment in front of the clock. He almost asked Alice to count out ten seconds, he trusted her timing far more than that of any clock, because whereas before, the second hand seemed to move back, it was now racing forwards just a bit too quickly for him to believe that it had really taken almost half a minute to cross the parlor.

“I’m so sorry you had to listen to that,” she whispered as they followed her father, just out of earshot, down the halls.

“Don’t be sorry. Your troubles are my troubles. I only wish I could have been of more help,” he said as she gently took his hand.

“If it’s all the same, your family’s still easier to get along with.” He made a mental note to tell her about the time he’d had to stay with Ali for a week after the fall out from the Traveling Bag Ploy Fiasco.

They followed her father up a flight of stairs and down a hall. He stopped at a door on the left. “Alice, you remember the room you stayed in last time correct?" She nodded. "I’m sorry for the state of things. If we’d known you were visiting, we’d have made up the rooms a bit better.” He polished his glasses again. “I do hope you don’t mind staying here Cyrus.”

“After all my time in a bottle, it would be a pleasure,” he said, attempting to bring some sort of levity to things. “And any place Alice considers home is fine for me.” It wasn’t completely a lie. She may not have been exceptionally fond of this place, but home was any place they were together.  

It appeared that his words had their intended effect as Edwin smiled tentatively at them and said, “I don’t know if either of you would be interested, but the World’s Fair is still in London for another week. We were planning on going tomorrow, you’re more than welcome to join us if you’d like.”

Cyrus looked to Alice and nodded. If she was up for it, he was. After weeks of running from Jafar, fighting Jafar, freeing his brothers, and all manner of other hazardous things, a nice, relaxing day at a fair would be a welcome break.

“I think that sounds lovely,” Alice replied.


	2. Millie Learns Adventuring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Alice teaches her sister the proper way to plan an adventure and Cyrus is quite skeptical that planning is in either of their vocabularies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is still a thing that I am doing. I got caught up working two jobs this summer and so I lost track of some of it for a while and I think I've misplaced part of my outline, but I still fully intend to work on this. I apologize for any disorganization or anything else in the writing, this was done with absolutely minimal betaing and as usual, comment, kudos, whatever it is people do on this site! :^)

“…and the Pacific ocean is the biggest. It’s got lots of islands and they’re made by volcanoes…” Millie said, speaking a bit too quickly as she glanced back and forth between fair booths. Alice and Cyrus offered to watch Millie as they went about the fairgrounds as they were more able to keep up with the eight year old.

Ever since yesterday afternoon, the young girl was determined to catch Alice up on everything that happened in her world since they last saw each other and when she ran out of events and new friends, she started on her lessons. Not that Alice minded; it was great to hear Millie so enthusiastic about what she was learning.

“…have you ever seen a volcano Alice?” Millie asked.

“Once or twice,” Alice said, trying very hard not to think about the last time she was anywhere even remotely volcanic. The Boiling Sea wasn’t exactly on her list of places to visit anymore.  

“What was it like?” she said, only half paying attention to Alice, having been distracted by a display of brass gear birds flitting about a booth as the keeper wound them up. Their bright metallic feathers flashed and glimmered in what little late morning sun filtered through the clouds.

“I can’t say we recommend it,” Cyrus said. “While they are lovely to behold, they are, on the whole, rather unpleasant.”

“Why?” Millie asked.

Alice had to think a moment before saying, “Well, they’re a bit too warm and they do smell of sulfur.”

“What’s that?” she asked, glancing again at a display of books from all over the world. Their multi-colored leather and embossed gold covers were tempting, so she and Cyrus followed her sister over to look.

“Sulfur is a yellow, kind of powdery element and it smells a bit like rotten eggs,” Alice said, looking at a book bound in tawny brown leather.

“Oh,” she said, opening a bright blue book with etched dolphins on the spine. “That doesn’t sound very nice.”

“Just because we didn’t enjoy it very much doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t,” Alice added. They had liked the Boiling Sea themselves before the Queen showed up. “The place we went, the Boiling Sea, was lovely. If you like the ocean, you might like it a lot.”

“Can you tell me what it was like?” Millie asked, flipping through a few pages until she came to one with an illustration of a lion fish before staring at her sister with rapt attention.

“There were lots of whirlpools, just like the one on this page,” she said, flipping two pages back and pointing to the illustration. “And floating islands…”

“…not floating in the sea, but floating mid-air. Like that hot air balloon we saw earlier,” Cyrus added.

“Islands can’t float on air. They’re too heavy,” Millie said, giggling a little, perhaps thinking that the former genie was having a joke with her.

“They’re a bit like the balloon. The islands have these plants growing on them with huge leaves and when the islands are growing up out of the underwater volcanoes, the leaves of the plants fill with gasses from the volcano,” Cyrus explained. “When the plants are big enough, the islands float up into the air.”

“That’s impossible,” she said.

“Anything’s possible in…” Alice started. “Actually, that wasn’t Wonderland was it?”

“Altogether too many suns and at least a half-dozen extra moons,” Cyrus said.

“How many suns were there? Wouldn’t it be too hot with more than one?”

“Well, the realm with the Boiling Sea is part of a binary star system, which means that it’s between two stars,” Alice said. “Because of that, even while the planet is spinning, it’s always light out and it’s almost always sunset. It really is quite beautiful.”

“I wish I could see places like that,” Millie sighed, tracing a drawing of a black and white whale with her finger. “All of your adventures sound so lovely…”

“There’s no reason why you can’t have adventures of your own,” Alice said. “We’re at The World’s Fair and there are all sorts of things to see and do here. Why don’t we make today into an adventure?”

“That doesn’t sound like a proper adventure. We’re still going to be in England…” she said, turning the page to a scene of a large whale with a square head and a giant squid.

“You don’t have to go far for adventures,” Alice said. “Sometimes, if the weather was bad, Cyrus and I would stay home and read to each other. Those days were just as exciting as crossing the Fire Swamp.”

“Okay,” she said, shutting the book and stepping away from the display. “Maybe we could try it. What are we going to do?” Normally, they would just pick a destination and go, but despite her sister’s fascination with her stories, she suspected Millie liked a little more structure than that.

“If you’re going on an adventure, there’s a few things you should keep in mind. First, you should know where you want to go,” Alice said. “So, where to then?”

Millie pondered the topic for a moment with all the seriousness she could muster up before deciding. “There was a poster a while back about an aquarium with lots of fishes from the Nautilus.”

“The aquarium sounds like a splendid idea. What do you think Cyrus?” Alice asked.

“It would be wonderful to see what kind of fantastic creatures this world has to offer,” he said. Cyrus gave her the same look he’d given her when they saw the hot air balloon, just before he mouthed, “boring?” at her.

“Then we have our destination,” Alice said. “Now, we have to make a plan for how to get there.” She wasn’t going to mention that their usual plan was to wander about, totally not lost. She was also going to ignore the look Cyrus was giving her, as if totally stunned by the idea that she would suggest a plan. “This is a bit tricky as if you plan out too much, you can’t make changes if you want to or need to and if you don’t plan enough, then nothing gets done right.” She opened up her bag and took out a map of the fairgrounds they got earlier.

“So we’re here…” Alice pointed to a spot near some shops, “and the aquarium is her…” she pointed to a spot about half way across the fairgrounds. “How do you think we should get there?”

“How would you get there?” Millie asked, thinking it best to rely on her older sister’s experience.

“We have no idea how to get there. If you wanted to cross the Tulgey Wood to see the Cheshire Cat, then we’d be the experts…” Alice reminded herself to tell Cyrus about her last run in with the Cheshire Cat. “…but you know this realm better than we do.”

Millie looked at the map for a few moments before saying, “Can you give me any hints?”

“Well,” Alice said, “we can go straight there by the main path and look at things on the way. Or, it’s a bit after eleven-thirty now, we can go around the edge of the fair and see Professor Fogg’s flying machine take off at noon. We could also go down this side path and see the Light Garden. It says that all the plants there have something called bioluminescence, which means that…”

“It means they glow in the dark right?” Millie said. “Mummy told me that in one of our lessons about jungles.”

“That’s right,” Alice said. “Do you think that sounds interesting?”

“Yes! Very!” Millie said.

“So do you think we should go that way or…”

“We could go see the garden after we go to the Aquarium,” Millie said. “If you want to that is.”

“Your adventure, your decision,” Alice said, holding her sister’s hand as they started to walk down the main road. “Now, one more thing to remember is that you need to make sure you have everything you need. Do you think we have everything we need?”

“We’re just going to the other side of the fairgrounds,” Millie giggled. “We don’t need anything.”

“The shortest journeys are often the ones you should have prepared best for,” Cyrus said. Of all the poorly planned trips they took, Alice found herself recalling a trip just over the Violet Hill that could have gone far better than it did. “Are you sure we have everything?”

“You two are silly,” Millie said. “We don’t need anything.”

“Alright,” Alice said. “We’re off to see the Aquarium. But if we run into any Lindworms while unprepared, don’t say we didn’t warn you.”

“What’s a Lindworm?” Millie said.

“It’s a creature that looks a little like a dragon with only two legs and no wings,” Alice explained.

“Have you ever seen one?” Millie asked.

“Just once,” Alice said, beginning to recount the tale of their encounter with the Lindworm and its venomous bite as they set off in their quest. All while they walked, they continued to marvel at what the world had to offer.

While Millie watched in amazement as a street magician made pigeons fly out of his traveling bag, Cyrus took Alice’s hand and said, “I think we need one of these well planned adventures.”

“Whatever do you mean by this?” Alice asked, mock offended. “Our adventures are always perfectly planned and expertly executed.”

“Yes but knowing where we’re going, knowing how to get there, bringing everything we need…I think it’s the only thing we haven’t tried yet,” he teased.

“Here maybe,” she said. “We still have plenty more things to do in Wonderland before planning becomes the only thing we haven’t tried.”

“I still cannot believe you think such a fantastic realm boring,” Cyrus said, taking a leaflet from a passing hawker.  “Thank you sir.” He took a moment to read over the yellowed paper. “I mean look at this, it’s called a Galvanic Generator, it uses magnets to generate and store electricity and…”

“Well, I spent most of my early life in Wonderland, and then time I _did_ spend here I spent going between doctors or stuck at home, so forgive me if my knowledge of this world is a little lacking,” she said, entwining her arm in his and reading over the flyer. The yellow paper had a sketch of a mushroom shaped mass of coiled wires giving off what looked like lightning bolts.

“Whenever you would say anything about it, you made it sound so…” His words faded out as they heard a clanking, rattling noise from over the next row of tents. “Gods would you look at that?” He pointed to the contraption clattering through the air. The flying machine glittered bronze in the early afternoon sunlight. Great propeller blades and flapping wings worked in tandem to make it soar above them like a metallic bird.

“Fascinating,” Alice said. “This must be Professor Fogg’s…” She couldn’t even hear her own voice over the noise of the engines.  The pilot made the machine dip lower in the air and fly over the main street, so close to the ground that Alice could have reached up and touched the gleaming underbelly.

The pilot reached the end of the path and veered up sharply again, executing an almost perfect loop in midair, before making a series of tight corkscrew spirals. The fair crowd watched, enthralled as the plane dove for the ground. The collective gasp as it plummeted out of control through the sky cut through the otherwise stunned silence. It fell faster and lower, one of the propellers barely missing the top of a tent. Just before it crashed into the ground, the world stopped.   

For an eternity, the world held perfectly still. The wind ceased playing with the flags and banners draped all over the fairgrounds. The music from a far off stage stopped its lively melody. The crowd no longer pushed and writhed like a creature in and of itself. Even her own heart lay static in her chest. Despite the urge to rush forwards and help, Alice remained rooted to the spot. She tried to count out the seconds, yet the rhythm of time danced just out of her reach.

Then, amid an explosion of cheering, the pilot pulled out of the dive. The air craft rose like a firework through the afternoon sky, sparkling bright bronze in the sun. Without realizing that she joined in, Alice clapped and cheered along with the rest of the crowd as the craft leveled off again and flipped itself upside-down. The pilot took it on another flight down the main path before righting the aircraft and heading back towards the landing field.

“My sincerest congratulations to Professor Phyllis Fogg,” Cyrus said, applauding the pilot’s daring flight.

“Even in Wonderland I’ve never seen anything like it,” she said, straining her own voice to be heard over the din. _“I wonder just how it works…”_ she thought, reaching into her bag for the pamphlet she’d picked up earlier. “The world’s first heavier than air aircraft, powered entirely by energy from the sun…”

“That’s absolutely amazing,” he said. “And to think you thought this realm boring.”

“I’m beginning to think you just might be right about that…” she took his hand, entwining her fingers in his, and leaned her head on his shoulder. “Faster than Zeppelin travel…I wonder what that could mean…” Her sister would know better than she as Millie had spent far more time in this realm. “Millie, do you know…”she turned to look for her sister, but she was nowhere to be found.

She whipped around, releasing Cyrus’ hand, her heart racing like a bilgesnipe in migration season. She scanned the crowd again and called out, “Millie!” She tried to remember to breathe and not think of the thick crowds and how easy it would be for a small girl to get into trouble. England was almost as much a foreign land to Alice as it was to Cyrus; she didn’t know what kind of dangers could strike here.

She would have been able to protect her sister if she was lost in Wonderland, but here she was unarmed, in an impossibly thick crowd, in a foreign land. Not knowing what to look for was more terrifying than the fearsome bunyip. Bunyips she knew how to handle, keep them far enough from water and pin their huge webbed feet to the ground. She’d never been on this end of worrying about a missing child before. She couldn’t imagine her father having to go through this so often he almost seemed used to her disappearing.

Cyrus took her hand again and said, “Alice, stay calm. Panicking won’t help now.”

“I’m not panicking,” she said, shaking him off and jumping up to get a better view of the crowd, mentally cursing at whoever decided tall hats were in fashion. “Waiting around won’t solve anything.” When she saw nothing, she started to make her way through the crowd.

“My brothers and I would lose each other in the market all the time. It never helped us to panic. The best way to find your sister is to calm down and look carefully. Where were we when we last…”

“It’s difficult to stay calm when…” She pushed by a man in one of the offending stovepipe hats. Blocked by the odious head covering was a corkboard with various events and advertisements. In front of the corkboard was a young girl with dirty blond hair, wearing a green dress. “Millie, there you are!”

“Oh,” the girl said, turning around at the sound of her name. “Sorry Alice, I didn’t mean to wander off…

“Don’t be sorry for being curious,” she said, hugging her sister perhaps a bit tighter than she meant to. “Just try to let me or Cyrus know next time.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you, I just got distracted…” Alice had said the same words to Mr. Rabbit and the Hatter more times than she could remember when she was younger and saw dragonflies and horseflies while walking through the Tulgey Wood. “I got distracted by the flying machine and there are a lot of interesting posters…”

“I can imagine,” Alice said, stepping back and looking at the corkboard. Multi-colored papers overlapped like the mottled sand and limestone cliffs along Wonderland’s northern shore.

“I was looking at this one,” she gestured to a weathered tea-colored paper with a geared box drawn on, “it’s about the Antkit…Antika…Anticat…”

“Antikytheria Mechanism,” Cyrus read, gently placing a finger on the paper and tracing the black ink words. “Found in a wreck off the coast of Greece by the crew of the Nautilus. It says that it’s rumored to have mythical properties.” Cyrus sounded far more skeptical of this than anybody who had once been a Djinn had any right to.

“Could it really be magic?” Millie asked, bouncing a little in excitement.

“It might be,” he admitted. “It looks like an odd sort of astrolabe. It’s a kind of navigation tool. We had them all over the place in Agrabah. I’ve never seen one quite like this before.” He spoke considerably quicker than normal and his eyes lit up in a way Alice hadn’t seen since he and his brothers discussed the possibility of taking a trip back to Agrabah.

Alice reached into her bag and took out the map again and while Cyrus explained how an astrolabe charted the positions of the stars, Alice read the poster for more information as to the exhibit’s location. Then with a smile, she checked the location against the map.

“It’s right next to the Aquarium,” Alice said. “If you’re both interested, what do you say we add it to the itinerary?”

**_X~*~X~*~X~*~X~*~X~*~X~*~X_ **

“Cyrus are you sure you’re alright with this?” Alice asked, glancing around the aquarium entrance while Millie forged ahead.

“I’ll be fine,” he said. The exhibit was more crowded than they expected, the spaces between the tanks much smaller, and there corridors were dark to create an environment better suited for animals from the deep ocean than former Djinni. He considered them to be less than ideal conditions, but he could deal with it. Besides, there were two clearly illuminated emergency exits, one regular exit, a staff entrance, and an area where the tent was not particularly well secured. This was nothing like Jafar’s cage or the bottle. He would be fine.

Still, he ignored the tightness in his chest and the voice in his ear telling him to stay in the open air as he and Alice meandered over to a tank of cuttlefish.

“If you feel uncomfortable at all, let me know,” Alice said, laying a comforting hand on his forearm.

“Don’t worry,” he said as one of the strange striped creatures swam by the glass. He wasn’t sure if he was assuring Alice or himself. Peering into the barely lit depths of the tank he reminded himself that he’d almost been killed by a homicidal maniac sorcerer. Tight, crowded, dark spaces should be nothing.

“These look just like baby kraken,” he said.

“A little,” Alice said. “I think I like these a bit better. There’s no mother kraken.”

“What’s a kraken?” Millie asked, coming back over to them from a tank of chambered nautili.

As Alice detailed their adventures on a long forgotten primordial sea, Cyrus tried to focus on the eight-legged denizens of the deep in an attempt to stave off gnawing anxiety. Every time somebody bumped into him, he would give an almost impossibly slight start, anticipating the bite of silver and whenever he looked away from the tanks, the dark of the room made the already tight walls seem closer together than those of his bottle.  Yet as the fish swam about the tank, he didn’t see the walls closing in.

Instead, his thoughts kept drifting to something he couldn’t remember seeing. One of the cuttlefish diving to investigate something on the floor of the tank blurred until it no longer resembled a baby kraken. It looked like something stranger still, just like the aircraft. The rocks swam and their colors shifted, creating an atmosphere more like the main road than the bottom of the sea.

And then the aircraft dove or the ground, like a hawk after a mouse. He remembered seeing this before, remembered how his eyes were as fixed on the sky as anybody else’s.  Just as before, just before it hit the ground, time stood still. And a pocket watch fell out of the coat of the gentleman in front of him. Even though he stared at Professor Fogg’s creation, that watch, he couldn’t have had more than a half-remembered glance at, was fixed into his brain.

His pulse became a frantic rush in his ears and his heart tried in vain to beat out of a collapsing chest, yet the watch became clearer. For a moment, he almost heard Alice saying something to him, yet she couldn’t be. She was from another world. This entire existence was an aircraft and a watch, frozen in the river of time. She was far below the waves of an alien realm.

His lungs burned for want of air, but no matter how he struggled to breathe, his throat remained too tight. His mind raced, trying to think of any way out of the crowd, but he could not even look around, frozen like the other human statues around him. He thought he heard Alice again as he tried to run, but whatever whisper of wind masqueraded as her voice was drowned out by deafening silence. His wrists burned, gold rebinding to his skin, and he found himself, for either a moment or eternity, wondering just how he could part the man from his watch.

Just as Cyrus returned to his senses, the watch moved. Its tick resonated through the air, he could feel its sound wave brush against his skin and hear nothing but the time distorted ringing of its sound. His arm jerked up a fraction of a millimeter. The people around him moved like automatons, breathing out and in by parts of a breath, leaning forwards and back by a hair, limbs twitching. All while this happened, he had no choice but to watch the watch tick backwards and is it did, the plane reversed its descent. Just enough so that even his panicked mind wondered why nobody else noticed what happened.   

Then Alice called out to him again and her voice, soft, calming, was the greatest thing he’d heard in all his centuries of life. “Cyrus,” she said, strong as anything, pulling him back to a world where time worked properly. “Cyrus?”

They were off to the side of the aquarium, in a slightly more open space with fewer people. Alice held his hands and he found he could breathe again.

“Alice, what’s going…what happened?” he said. His words sounded thick and slow, even to him.

“You froze up,” she said. “Are you alright?”

“Been better,” he said, letting himself lean against the cool glass of the tank. “I’ll be fine.”

“You don’t look fine,” she said, reaching up and brushing a strand of sweat soaked hair out of his face.

“I just need a minute,” he said, shaking his head a little. He was still trying to figure out what set the hallucination off. The aquarium certainly didn’t have ideal conditions, but he’d been in worse places since escaping the cage. While he’d been uncomfortable it wasn’t enough to start a full blown panic attack. He couldn’t quite shake the feeling that something was off. And he couldn’t stop from thinking of the clock in Alice’s father’s study.

“Cyrus, if it’s not nothing, don’t try to act like it is,” she said. “If you need to leave, I’ll find Millie and we can leave.”

He couldn’t find the words, so instead he nodded, his cheek rubbing against the glass.

“Alright,” she said, “I’ll be right back,”

“No,” he said, unsure of what would happen if he were alone here again. “I’ll meet you outside.”

“I’ll walk you out,” she said, holding his hand as they made their way towards the exit.

Upon seeing a large clock outside, he paused at the exit for a moment before asking, “Alice? Could you do me a favor?”

“Of course.”

“Could you count out ten seconds for me?”

**_X~*~X~*~X~*~X~*~X~*~X~*~X_ **

_“These look just like baby kraken,” he said._

_“A little,” Alice said. “I think I like these a bit better. There’s no mother kraken.”_

_“What’s a kraken?” Millie asked, coming back over to them from a tank of chambered nautili._

**_X~*~X~*~X~*~X~*~X~*~X~*~X_ **

“…For a limited time today, double or nothing to follow the lady…”

“…and if you sign up for my mail-away course right now, you too can be the author of bestselling…”

Cyrus stumbled backwards at the onslaught of light and sound. Blinking against the sunlight, he spun around, trying to understand where the filtered blue light, crowded halls, or the rest of the aquarium went.

“Alice?” he called out. “Alice?” But neither Alice nor Millie were anywhere to be seen. He stopped moving, wracked his brain to try to figure out what happened. One moment Alice was telling Millie all about their time on the Parathethys Sea, the next he was in the middle of the main path.

If there was one thing he prided himself on, and often cursed during his time as a djinn, it was an excellent memory. He wasn’t like Will, who would often forget what he was looking for in the two minutes that it would take for him to wander down to the palace kitchen. He didn’t just forget things, he should know what happened. Why couldn’t he remember?

Nobody was looking at him strangely and it didn’t feel like he’d had a panic attack, so he couldn’t have lost it on account of claustrophobia. Besides, while he’d been uncomfortable, it wasn’t as though he hadn’t been worse places. Maybe he’d gotten separated somehow, or hit on the head with any one of the things flying through the air, or any number of things. He couldn’t have just run out.

For a moment, he felt as though the gold of the binds burned into his skin again, and when he looked down, he could have sworn he saw the glitter of gold at the cuffs of his jacket. Yet when he pushed one of the sleeves back a bit, he saw only skin.

“Excuse me sir, are you lost?” He whipped around and saw a young woman wearing the World’s Fair Staff Uniform.

“I…” he stated. He could see the dark blue and bronze tent of the aquarium just behind the tour guide. “I don’t think so. Have you seen a woman, probably around your age, a bit taller, light brown hair, wearing a blue dress…”

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I have,” she said.

“Did you see how I got here?”

She paused for a moment, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion, “I…I don’t think I do. I just saw you spinning here.”

“So I didn’t come running…” he was cut off by the sound of breaking glass and screaming coming from the aquarium. “Alice.” And then he did run. Without a second thought towards the space and darkness, he bolted towards the tent. Even the panicked crowds were no hindrance. It was just like running from Agrabah’s guards through the market place.

He ducked through the people streaming out of the tent. In the frantic din, he could make out phrases like, “Jack,” “Crazy girl…” “Going to get us all killed…” “Spring-heeled…” Even with no idea who or what was causing the panic, he knew for certain that Alice was somehow the crazy girl who had every intention of getting them all killed by whatever she was facing.

“Alice!” he called out again, the throng by the exit too thick to fight against. The police arriving at the scene met with the same issue.

The emergency exits were likely the same, but if he could find the poorly secured spot again, then there would be no problem with getting through. He dropped back through the crowds again before darting to the left. A bit of the tent flapped weakly in the breeze. The opening wasn’t big, but there would be more than enough space to slip through.

Cyrus ducked low, his knees brushing against yellow grass and his back against the thick canvas, and almost hit his head on the back of a tank when he went through. In the main corridor, there was a broken display of fossils and shark teeth. Shattered glass shone in the faint light. The room was otherwise empty. Except for Alice standing with her back to the entrance.

She held a glass shard like a knife. A few drops of dark liquid fell from her palm.

“Alice, what are you…” he started.

“Behind you!” she shouted. He turned around and before he hit the ground, he heard a metallic creaking and saw two eyes glowing like embers heading for him impossibly fast. For a moment, he lay there dazed, feeling like he’d been kicked in the chest by a horse. When he looked up again, spitting out dirt, Alice and a man wearing what he could only describe as shoes with springs circled each other. He scrambled back to his feet and lunged for the man, but he leapt to the top of a tank.

“Still boring?” he asked, falling into a familiar position to cover Alice’s back.

“The other people called him Spring Heeled Jack,” she said, moving as the thug leapt from tank to tank. “He came in through one of the back exits, attacked at least two people, and stole an opalized fossil of some sort.”

The thief leapt down and rushed at them again. He braced for an impact that never came as Jack leapt over them and towards the entrance, only for him to be forced to backtrack by the now arriving police.

As the strangely shod fiend leapt by him, Cyrus reached out and grabbed his arm. With a well-practiced move, Cyrus twisted Jack’s arm behind his back and took hold of his neck with his free hand in order to immobilize him.

Then Alice, taking advantage of the only just arriving police, dropped the glass shard and took the club from a very surprised guard’s hand. The man howled and a crunch that under any other circumstances would have been blood curdling resonated through the tent as she struck at his kneecaps.

As the guards rushed in to take the criminal, Alice dropped the club and clutched at her hand.

“Are you alright?” he asked, putting an arm around her shoulder.

“Just a scratch,” she said, leaning into him. Every time she said that, Mr. Rabbit was inevitably very cross with him.

“Let me take a look,” he said. She uncurled her fingers to reveal a long, but thin and shallow gash in her hand. “You should probably get that looked at.”

“No doctors,” she said. Her harsh tone and quick words allowed or no argument. She’d been remarkably stubborn about that in Wonderland as well. Without thinking about it, he removed his coat and handed it to her. “You came out of nowhere. Where were you?” she asked, not accusatory, simply curious.

“Outside,” he said, holding her again.

“Got caught up in the crowds?”

“No. I…the last thing I remember was talking about baby kracken.”

She was still for a moment, he could practically hear her doing mental calculations. “That was twenty minutes ago.” She sounded just as confused as he felt. “I don’t remember…I would remember you leaving…but I don’t remember seeing you after that…you were there one moment…”

“…and then somewhere else twenty minutes later,” he said, trying not to let fear and worry creep into his voice.

And then from outside came another scream.


	3. Alice Punches Sherlock Holmes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Inspector Lestrade attempts to conduct an interview and Will Scarlet loses at darts to a three hundred year old man and a blind woman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while since I've done anything for this. There are bits that should have been a little more polished. But I think I enjoyed this.

****

“What are your names?” the policeman asked, flipping to a clean page of his notebook.

Alice had no intention of giving the man her real name. She’d broken out of an asylum with the help of a dimension hopping rabbit and a man in a mysterious leather jacket and Cyrus was from another world. Giving them their names would cause more problems than it was worth. The only concern was how explain that to Millie without the policeman noticing or having to explain that her older sister was likely a wanted fugitive.

“Millie…” Millie said.

“…Kingsley. I’m her sister, Alice,” she said. She hoped that the man waited until they left this realm to check on their identities as escaping another prison would be a real bother.

“And you sir?” the policeman said, gesturing to Cyrus.

Cyrus didn’t answer at first and not for the first time, it occurred to Alice that she did not know his last name. The first time she asked about it, he told her genies didn’t have them. After defeating Jafar, he confessed he barely remembered his name was Cyrus after years in the bottle. He suspected Taj knew, but was too embaressed to ask.

“Cyrus,” he said, sounding unsure of his answer.

“Last name?”

He hesitated again, then answered, “Nejem.”

“And what were you lot doin’ before our friend Mr. Jack broke in?” he said, making a note in his book.

“Just looking around the exhibit, just like everyone else,” Alice said, trying not to fidget as she stared at the Officer’s badge. “When he attacked, I made sure my sister got out, but before I could escape myself, he cornered me.” Nobody would believe that she had _chosen_ to stay behind and fight and that was alright with her. It would only raise more questions.

“And we have reports that say you ran into this mayhem.” He pointed the pencil at Cyrus and twitched his moustache.

“My fiancée was in danger. What would you have done in my place?”

“You weren’t there with her?”

“I was at first, but I’m severely claustrophobic and I stepped out for fresh air.”

The police officer documented his response, then said, “So you didn’t see…”

“Sean, I need you at the other site,” a great, booming voice said as a tall, dark skinned woman with close cropped, curly hair strode over to the makeshift interview site.

“With all due respect sir, I’m in the middle of taking statements and…”

“Orders I gave you and can change when they are no longer priority,” she said, drawing her shoulders back and crossing her arms. “The Antikytheria Mechanism theft is the brass’ top priority. The donor’s got them in their pocket and it’s all hands on deck.” When the man looked at her as if not believing, she continued in a tone not to be disobeyed, “Officer Sean Goldman of Scotland Yard, you have your orders. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes sir,” he said, looking anywhere but at her dark eyes and closing the notebook, before scurrying off.

 “I am Inspector Genevieve Lestrade of Scotland Yard,” she said, turning towards them and pulling out her own notebook.  “I assume Officer Goldman took your information?”

“Yes,” Alice said. They would be long gone by the time she figured out that he hadn’t finished.

“To business then,” Inspector Lestrade said, looking them over. Cyrus tensed beside her. “What do you know about Spring Heeled Jack?”

“Only what’s said in the papers.” Cyrus was just a little too quick in his response for Alice’s comfort. Given the faint rise of Inspector Lestrade’s eyebrow, it was too quick for her too.

“And what’s that exactly?” the Inspector made a note in her book.

“Not much honestly, my fiancée and I have only recently returned from a long voyage abroad,” he touched her hand and she could feel a familiar energy in him. Just like when he was running a con on the Caterpillar or tricking the Queen’s Guards. “Springs on his shoes, eyes like coals, a vile criminal, that sort of thing.”

“He’s a well-known thief and thug, yet you chose to stay and fight?” She made another note.

“He cornered me,” Alice repeated.

“Statements from other witnesses report that after ushering your sister out of the exhibit, you returned to confront the perpetrator.”

“If I did, it was certainly not my attention,” she said. She could practically hear Will make a smart-alecky remark about her and deliberate acts of violence.

“And you,” she gestured to Cyrus, “were outside when this happened?”

“Yes.”

“You entered the exhibit through a previously unknown opening in the tent.”

“It was obviously unsecured and everywhere else was too crowded and…”

“Inspector!” a woman shouted, interrupting Cyrus. “We need you over at the other site.”

“Officer Langston, I’m in the middle of an interview. Could this not wait?” the Inspector said.

            “The officers on the scene would much rather you were there sir,” Officer Langston said, holding her helmet in both hands in front of her and looking at the Inspector’s boots.

            “Can they not investigate a crime scene without me to hold their hands?” the Inspector said.

            “They’re trying,” Officer Langston said, tugging at her white shirt sleeve. “But you see, they’re a bit upset. You see, the brass called in that private detective and well, you’re the only person who can control him.” She tugged at her other shirt sleeve, then at her jacket cuffs.

            “Nobody can control Sherlock Holmes,” Inspector Lestrade said. “The man knows the brass think too highly of his work to dismiss him. Other officers are going to learn to deal with him, just as I have.” It sounded more like she said, “I don’t want to deal with him.”

            “Yes, but at least he considers your suggestions, and he’s not outright _rude_ to you,” Officer Langston said. Officer Langston shrunk back a little, hugged her helmet closer, and something in the Inspector’s face softened.

            “Alright, I’ll be right over,” the Inspector said. “You two,” she gestured to Alice and Cyrus, “come with me and sweetie, why don’t you stay here with Officer Langston?”

            “I’m not supposed to leave my sister,” Millie said. “My father said so.”

“Sweetie, you need to stay with Officer Langston. Crime scenes are no place for children and I’m sure your father would want you to listen to the poli…” Shouting erupted from the other tent and the Inspector’s grip on her pencil tightened. “Bloody hell! Fine, you may come along with us, but you must remain next to Officer Langston.”

Without waiting for a response, the Inspector turned and strode off towards the tent, muttering about what an incorrigible git the detective was. They followed at what Officer Langston thought to be a safe distance. Officer Langston tried to talk to Millie about what happened at the aquarium, Millie replied by talking about the fish and how she planned to embroider a cuttlefish and a nautilus at her next lesson.

They ducked under strips of bright yellow canvas hanging around the tent and Officer Langston gestured for them to stand near a stack of crates. Officers in blue stood outside the tent, staring at the Inspector having a heated discussion with a beaky nosed man.

“I don’t care if you’re the Queen herself,” the Inspector said, “you will at least be civil to my officers.”

“If your officers were more competent…”

“Mr. Holmes, might I remind you that you are a guest in this investigation. You are here at the request of Commissioner Ashbury, who owes me numerous and not insignificant favors for tolerating your conduct. Not to mention the numerous complaints against you filed by both my department and others,” she said. “If you put so much as one toe out of line, I will have you tossed from this investigation faster than you can deduce you’ve been tossed.”

“At least require your officers remain out of my and Doctor Watson’s way,” he said.

“You are guest in this investigation Mr. Holmes,” she said. “However, your assistance is not without merit. If you ask politely, or ask Doctor Watson to ask politely for you, I’m sure my officers will assist you in any way they can. It is, however, _our_ investigation.”

“With all due respect Inspector, the investigation would run smoother if…”

“Guest Mr. Holmes. You are a guest,” the Inspector said, turning on her toe and striding over to the four of them.

“Now, she said, taking her notebook out of her jacket pocket. “Where were we…” She flipped through the pages. The yellow edges crumpled as she tried to pick up where she left off. “Right, Mr. Najem, you were talking about how the tent was unsecured and you were worried about your fiancée. How did you know the tent flap was…”

“Millie!” Alice never thought she’d be grateful to hear her stepmother’s voice, but in that moment, there was no sweeter sound. She turned around to see Sarah and her father rushing toward the crime scene.

“Are all of you alright?” her father asked.

“We’re fine,” Alice responded. She wasn’t sure how to tell him that she had lied about their last name and would rather it stayed that way.

“Inspector, what is the meaning of this?” Sarah asked. “You brought a child to a crime scene.”

“She was asked to remain with Officer Langston,” Inspector Lestrade gestured to the blonde woman. “Yet she refused to leave her sister’s side. I was in the midst of conducting an interview of the elder Ms. Kingsley and Mr. Najem when I was called away to deal with pressing matters at this site.”

“Regardless, it was a thoughtless, careless thing to do,” Sarah said, stroking Millie’s hair while fixing the Inspector with the same look she’d once given Alice. “Inspector, if you do not release them immediately, I will be compelled to speak with Lord Glenarvin about the grievous misconduct experienced by my family today.”

“Ma’am, this is a police investigation, not high tea,” Inspector Lestrade said, crossing her arms and Alice didn’t think it was possible to straighten her shoulders even more than they were, but she managed it. “If you want to report this, “grievous misconduct,” then you had best be prepared to explain to Commissioner Ashbury, Duke of Ashborough, why you interrupted a top priority investigation.”

Sarah was silent, but her gaze broke away from the Inspector to her daughter.

“Furthermore,” the Inspector continued, “if I am not allowed to complete my interview, our donors with the museum, including, but not limited to the Duchess of Plemsbury, the Count of Cavanagh, and the _Prime Minister_ , will hear about this. Now, I will allow you to remain here with your younger daughter if I am allowed to complete my interview. I am only making this concession because you are causing a scene, if you continue to do so, I will revoke this offer.”

Sarah was still quiet and Alice couldn’t help but feel some sort of awe at Inspector Lestrade for shutting her up.

Then, making a face like she’d bit into a particularly sour lemon, she said, “Fine. Millie, we’re going to stay here with Officer Langston.”

“But what about Alice and Cyrus?”

“We’re going to help the Inspector,” Cyrus said.

Alice’s father looked at her with concern, as if thinking of some connection or friendship with a lord or duke that could get her and Cyrus out of this situation.

“Don’t worry,” Alice said, walking over to her father and embracing him. “It’s just a few more questions and we’ll be back before you know it.”

“Alice,” he said. “I can get you a lawyer. You don’t have to…”

“We’ll be fine,” Alice insisted, stepping back. “It’s just a few more questions.”

“If you’re sure,” he said. “We’ll see you at home then?”

“Yes,” she replied.

The inspector gestured to Alice and Cyrus and led them away from the crates, towards a tent post.

“Alright,” the Inspector said, flipping through her now slightly crumpled notebook. “Right so Mr. Najem, you were telling me about how you entered the aquarium through the loose tent flap…”

“Inspector!” Mr. Holmes said, emerging from the tent with a sour expression.

The Inspector closed her fist around the notebook page, almost tearing it.

“Tell your detectives to get their filthy hands off of the bodies,” he said. “Not only are they contaminating the crime scene, they are interfering with Dr. Watson’s examination of the victims.”

“Have you tried asking them politely?” she asked.

“Of course I have, they do not listen to me as an outsider and when John asked, they were rude to _him_ ,” he said. He sounded considerably more put off that they were rude to John than that they didn’t listen to him.

“Do you want me to help?” she asked, her tone perfectly calm, if a bit resigned.

“They were rude to John,” he insisted. “I am accustomed to their behavior towards me, but towards _John_ of all people.”

“Officer O’Neal, remain with the witnesses while I sort this out,” the Inspector said, rolling her eyes. The officer nodded to her superior. “Now Mr. Holmes, lead the way.” She followed Mr. Holmes towards the tent, leaving Alice and Cyrus with Officer Langston again.

“No adventures to be had here,” Cyrus said, leaning against the post, looking a bit more satisfied with himself than he really should. “That’s what you said about where you came from. Nothing but boring fields and boring expectations.”

“We were supposed to be here for one afternoon,” she said, leaning against the post beside him. “Of course, at the rate this interview is going, we may be here for several more afternoons. If I knew this would happen, I would have sent the invitation with Percy.” She kicked at a patch of grass full of sparrow feathers, while picturing Sarah’s reaction to a dimension hopping rabbit in a top hat. As the blades flew through the air, she saw a familiar blue sparkle on the ground.

She tilted her head to the side and bent down to examine the grass. She poked through the grass and dirt and found three almost perfectly cube shaped crystals, so dark they were almost black. She picked them up and held them as gently as she had once held her wishes.

“Cyrus look at these,” she whispered, covering the crystals with her other hand as she showed them to him.

“They look like the crystals you find around portals,” he said.

“Whatever took the mechanism is not of this world,” she said.

“So it may have magical properties after all,” Cyrus said, running a hand through his hair. “I thought this world void of magic.”

“It is,” Alice insisted. “Should I ask about this? How would you do it without sounding mad?” This was not their investigation, but if there was a threat that could cross worlds, it might have to become their investigation.

“Are there any criminal organizations interested in the supernatural,” he suggested as the Inspector reemerged from the tent, with Mr. Holmes and a taller, stockier gentleman carrying a doctor’s bag following close behind her.

“Mr. Holmes,” Alice said, jogging over to them. “If there’s a chance that the Antikytheria Mechanism was stolen for its reputed magic properties, then it might be a good idea to consider groups who would be interested in that. Are there any people who might be interested in magical artifacts?”

“Ms. Liddel…” Alice’s jaw hung open and her heart stopped in shock. “Don’t look so surprised, there’s no Mr. or Mrs. Kingsley in Lord Glenarvin’s social circle, however there are a Mr. and Mrs. Liddel with a daughter named Alice with a very good reason to neglect to give her real name to the police following her escape from Bethlam hospital. And Ms. Liddle, this is a homicide and robbery investigation, not a place for the theories of a mad…”

Alice didn’t hear anything else but the rush of blood through her ears. Mr. Holmes’ mouth kept moving, but she neither heard nor cared to hear what he was saying. It was only a repetition of, “mad, mad, mad, mad, mad…” in the voices of everyone she’d ever known anyway.

The next thing she heard was a slow clapping and her knuckles stung. Mr. Holmes was on the ground in front of her, holding a hand to his cheek, but otherwise stunned.

“Alice.” Cyrus laid a hand on her shoulder. “Are you alright?”

“I think I’m fine now,” she said, relaxing her fist.

"Well then," he said, pulling her back, away from Inspector Lestrade. "We should probably start running."

X~*~X~*~X~*~X~*~X 

“So, we’re up on the rooftops, running from the guards, and after a while we thought we lost them,” Rafi said, taking a drink of his beer. “But we keep running just to make sure and eventually, we get off the roofs and back into an alley, Cyrus jumps down like the maniac he is…”

“Glad to know that’s not new,” Will said.

 “…and I climb down like a normal person. And we think we were safe, but then we hear footsteps again and we start running. Cyrus makes a bad turn, we wind up down a dead end with no way to climb out. Then we hear this growling. Like, legitimate growling. And I say, “You didn’t tell me they had tigers.” Cyrus pauses for a moment, then he says, “It’s worse than tigers. It’s our brother.””

Lizard laughed and Will couldn’t help but stare. In the low light of the Underland tavern, she seemed to glow. He thought he’d never see her smile and laugh like that again and ever since finding out she was alive, he couldn’t get enough of it.

Almost immediately after they defeated Jafar, Anastasia set about rebuilding Wonderland and fixing the damage she caused. Of course, some things were too broken to ever go back together, but for a time, they thought they could fix what had broken between them. While he could have gotten used to the palace’s luxury, he couldn’t get used to all the people pleasing, politicking, and uncomfortable pants wearing that came with the territory.

So while Cyrus took over the disaster that was Anastasia’s public relations and Ana organized public works and bonded with her people, he did odd jobs. A day with the carpenters here, a few hours with the stone masons there. Good, honest work that let him work with real people and wear real pants. One day, he’d wound up helping the Tweedle hire new gardeners.

He almost didn’t recognize her when he saw her, bandages over her eyes and her hat pulled down low to cover it up. It wasn’t until she was at the front of the line that he realized he wasn’t just seeing things and he almost fell over. He grabbed the table to stay on his feet as the blood drained from his face.

Still clutching the smooth mahogany table, he took a step towards her and said in a voice barely louder than a whisper, “Lizard?”

He may as well have shouted for the way she jumped and turned towards him, tense as if ready to bolt.

“Will?” she stammered.

He stood there with his mouth hanging open, unable to look away from her face, mesmerized by the white gauzy cloth where her eyes once were. There were a thousand and one things he should have said her, but all he could manage was, “You’re alive.”

He leaned against the front of the table, she remained absolutely still. They stood in silence, so close they could have touched, but neither wanting to take a chance on the other’s reaction. There was something about accidentally killing someone that puts a real damper on the relationship.

The crowd of people around them, even the tweedle, went silent. The air between them was too charged for him to even think about moving. His breathing slowed, but his heart raced, and he couldn’t look anywhere but at her.

Fortunately, she broke the tension between them, stepping forwards and throwing her arms around him. At first, he thought she’d go right through him, but when he felt how warm and solid and alive she was, he held her tightly.

“You’re alive,” he repeated, rubbing her back, still not quite believing she wasn’t a ghost. Even if she was, he wouldn’t have cared.

“Don’t you know? Genies can’t kill,” she said, laughing a little, more for his sake than for anybody else’s. Then she went still again, her face buried in his shoulder, and added in a voice so soft he knew he wasn’t meant to hear it, “But you’d be surprised what you can live through.”

Since then, she merged effortlessly back into regular life. She’d taken back a job as a gardener, Anastasia gave her a set of enchanted glass eyes as a sort of apology for being a rotten queen, she’d become fast friends with Rafi. What happened before she made her last wish was awkward, but they moved past it. Now, sitting in Underland, drinking, talking, occasionally hustling darts, it almost felt like nothing happened.

“Alright, I really have to get going,” Rafi said, standing up from the bar table.

“Ah come on,” Will said. “Next round’s on me.” If they got another beer into him, he and Liz could talk Rafi into hustling barflies at darts.

“Yeah, if you hang around

“I really have to go,” he said. “I have to be at work early tomorrow, the library’s meeting with the bookwyrms to discuss new material, and I can already feel a headache coming on.”

“So you’re getting’ out before the real fun starts?” Will said. “Hang around, I’ll even give you a chance at darts this time.”

“You lost last time we played,” Rafi reminded him, placing a hand on the back of his chair to steady himself.

“Cause I was distracted,” he insisted.

“Keep telling yourself that,” Lizard said, taking a sip of her drink.

“I was. I thought Alice was gonna throw that guy over the table,” he said.

“Distracted or not, let’s say I won and spare you the humiliation of losing to a three hundred year old man again,” Rafi said, taking his coat.

“Okay, fine, run away from my mad skills,” Will said. “But next time you won’t be so lucky.” 

“Next time I’ll demonstrate what three hundred years of practice looks like,” Rafi said.

“We’ll see about that,” Will replied.

“You know, you guys talk big, but we all know that the next time we play, you’re both going to lose to a blind woman,” Liz said.

“You have magic eyes,” Will said.

“I’ll beat both of you blind,” she said, popping one of her eyes out and tossing it in her hand.

“Okay,” Rafi said. “I should get going before we have to have another, “game,” of Find Liz’s Eyes.”

“Alright,” Will said. “See you ‘round then.”

“We’re still on for tomorrow morning right?” Lizard asked.

“Of course,” he said, smiling at her as he headed toward the door.

Will waited all of three seconds before saying, “Oooooh! What are you two up to tomorrow?” He grinned as she blushed and he continued, “Am I going to have to give him the, “Treat her right or I’ll have to unleash the Scarlet Fury,” talk?”

“Scarlet Fury?” Liz said. Her eyebrows arched as she pulled down an eyelid to pop the glass eye back in.

“What?” he replied, lifting the empty tankard to his lips before remembering that it was, in fact, empty. “I can’t let some dashing young rapscallion get away with hurting my best mate.”

“It’s not like that,” she said. “You remember back when we were on the streets.” He nodded. “That flower shop I was always talking about…”

“The one your mum owned.”

“Yeah,” she said. “Well, Rafi’s always wanted a book shop, and if we team up, we can have the capital to buy it back from the Caterpillar in less than a year.”

“That’s fantastic!” he said. “I’ll be one of the first in line when it opens.” He leaned back in his chair and raised the empty tankard to his lips again. “Right, we were going to get refills.”

“You can, I’m still working on this,” she said, tapping the side of her drink.

“Alright, then let’s hear more about that shop,” he said. “And you and Rafi, let’s hear more about that.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. We’re friends and hopefully business partners,” she said. “I wouldn’t date my business partner.”

“You’re not business partners yet,” he said. “I bet you guys would have fun together.”

“Let’s change the subject,” she said, taking another drink. “How do you think Ana’s going to handle the people from the Chess Board Desert without Cyrus?”

“Not drunk enough to talk politics,” he said. “Hey, did you see Mrs. Rabbit goin’ at it with that Dragonfly swarm?”

“No, let’s hear about it…”

X~*~X~*~X~*~X~*~X

_“So, we’re up on the rooftops, running from the guards, and after a while we thought we lost them,” Rafi said, taking a drink of his beer. “But we keep running just to make sure and eventually, we get off the roofs and back into an alley, Cyrus jumps down like the maniac he is…”_

_“Glad to know that’s not new,” Will said._

_“…and I climb down like a normal person. And we think we were safe, but then we hear footsteps again and we start running. Cyrus makes a bad turn, we wind up down a dead end with no way to climb out. Then we hear this growling. Like, legitimate growling. And I say, “You didn’t tell me they had tigers.” Cyrus pauses for a moment, then he says, “It’s worse than tigers. It’s our brother.””_

X~*~X~*~X~*~X~*~X

“…And then,” Lizard said, throwing a dart at the board, “we realized that that part of the hedge had become completely feral. So we’re going to cut it back, try to relocate it, I don’t know maybe some time with some more well behaved hedges will be good for it.”

“You guys gonna use the big hedge clippers?” Will said, taking aim at the dart board. He hit the second ring.

“Oh yeah,” she said. “Annie’s way to excited about that.” Her dart hit just outside the bull’s eye.

“I would be too,” he said. “Those things are almost as big as you are.” He bounced the dart in his hand to test the weight, then lining up his shot. They were closely matched this time. If he hit the bull’s eye dead on he would win. This had to be perfect. He took a deep breath to steady his hand, then drew it back to throw.

Then a wild eyed and bedraggled looking man came flying into the tavern. The dart embedded itself in the wall. It took him a moment for him to realize that the mud covered, out of breath madman was Rafi.

“How did I get outside?” he said, his voice almost broke on the last word. Lizard pulled out a chair for him and he all but collapsed into it.

“What do you mean outside? You were right here telling us about you and Cyrus…” Will trailed off. He didn’t remember anything after that and that story had to be half an hour ago. He didn’t remember anything about Rafi after that, he must have gotten up to get another beer or talk to the waitress or something and…and what? Gotten lost between their table and the bar? But they would notice Rafi leaving the bar. Even without telling them.

“I don’t know,” Lizard said. “I don’t remember you leaving.”

“I don’t remember it either. One moment I was here, the next I was half way home and I don’t know how I got there,” he said, his words coming out in a fast jumble. “I don’t know and…ah my head!” He flinched and put his palms against his forehead.

“You don’t remember anything?” Lizard said, sitting down across from him.

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing,” he said. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I didn’t have much to drink and I was fine until I…”

“You’re going to be fine,” she said. “Take a deep breath, we’ll get you some water and we’ll get Taj to bring you home.”

“Thank you,” he said, burying his face in his hands.

“I’ll see about that water,” Will said, turning and picking his way through the staring barflies. He paid the bartender and took the water back without waiting for change. “Here.”

Rafi took the water from him and sipped carefully.

“Feelin’ any better?” he asked.

“A bit,” he said, rubbing his forehead. “Gods what’s that noise?”

“What noi…” Then he heard the faint, low roar of wind. He’d heard this noise before. Will Scarlet had heard this noise before and he did not like it one bit. He looked down at the floor. It started out as a hairline blue crack in the floor, then spread to become the swirling blue vortex of chaos and Will Torment that portals always were.

“Bullocks.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry this is a bit rushed near the end, it's three in the morning here and I would like to sleep at some point. Also, please, R&R or Kudos or whatever people do on A03. I would appreciate it so much and would love the feedback.


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